I like seeing stores dressed up for Christmas...just not before December.
When I was a kid I loved going into downtown Toronto and seeing the window displays of the old Eaton's store as well as The Bay and Simpsons. I liked seeing the Old City Hall outlined in Christmas lights at night. Now I like how some small towns dress up their main streets for Christmas.
I recall a Christmas Eve many years ago when I took the train from Toronto to small town Havelock, Ontario to be home for Christmas. When I arrived it was about 10:00 at night and there was snow everywhere. My parents were waiting on the open platform and it was like a scene from an old movie.
I also recall many Christmas Eves in the early '70s when the radio was an integral part of Christmas. My sisters and I stayed up to listen country music station CFGM's Christmas selections, but mostly to follow their Norad reports tracking an "unidentified" object flying down from the North Pole. They always eventually identified the unknown object as Santa's sleigh and they estimated his arrival time in the Toronto area as around midnight. Man, I really miss that sort of thing.
I also miss that stores didn't start getting into Christmas mode before Halloween. I miss how many radio stations handled Christmas music: the occasional song beginning in the first couple weeks of December then played with gradually increasing frequency as the month progressed. Only on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day did you get nonstop Christmas music. You didn't have one extreme or the other. And sometimes you could still hear the occasional Christmas tune until New Years, which I still think is nice because then it feels more like a special time of year rather than just a one day event.
What I really miss (and now resent since) is stores not being open on Dec. 26th, also known as Boxing Day here in Canada (and in the UK as well I believe). Big sales started on the 27th. Stores still made piles of money and people still bought piles of stuff, but at least you had that extra day to travel and enjoy a special time of year, particularly those who worked in retail. Now the 26th has been sold out to the corporate interests and retail related folks are forced to work that day, many of them very early on the 26th so that Christmas Day for them has to be spent near to home and with the thought of very early to bed. I hate and resent it with a passion. And if the Wal-marts of the world had their way I guarantee they'd be open on Christmas Day as well if they can find a way to swing it. Bastards. As it is I refuse to shop on the 26th, and because I work in retail I also always try to get the afternoon shift on that day.
